Peter Schickele
Peter Schickele (/ˈʃɪkəli/;[1] July 17, 1935 – January 16, 2024) was an American composer, musical educator and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, which he presented as being composed by the fictional P.D.Q. Bach. He also hosted a long-running weekly radio program called Schickele Mix.[2]
Peter Schickele
July 17, 1935
January 16, 2024 (aged 88)
Composer, musical educator, parodist
From 1990 to 1993, Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach recordings earned him four consecutive wins for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.[3]
Other musical career[edit]
Schickele composed more than 100 original works for symphony orchestra, choral groups, chamber ensemble, voice, television and an animated adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are (which he also narrated).[16] He made a brief foray into cinema with the Bruce Dern film Silent Running (1972), for which he composed the musical score and co-wrote the original songs "Silent Running" and "Rejoice in the Sun" with Diane Lampert. He also wrote music for school bands, as well as for a number of musicals, including Oh! Calcutta!, and organized numerous concert performances as both musical director and performer. Schickele was active on the international and North American concert circuit.[1]
Schickele's musical creations won him multiple awards. His extensive body of work is marked by a distinctive style which integrates the European classical tradition with an unmistakable American idiom.[27]
Schickele also created such not-quite-P.D.Q. Bach albums as Hornsmoke,[28] Sneaky Pete and the Wolf,[29] and The Emperor's New Clothes.[30]
Schickele's music is published by the Theodore Presser Company.[31]
Radio[edit]
As a musical educator he also hosted the classical music educational radio program Schickele Mix, which aired on many public radio stations in the United States (and internationally on Public Radio International). The program began in 1992; lack of funding ended the production of new programs by 1999, and rebroadcasts of the existing programs finally ceased in June 2007.[32] Only 119 of the 169 programs were in the rebroadcast rotation, because earlier shows contained American Public Radio production IDs rather than ones crediting Public Radio International. In March 2006, some of the other "lost episodes" were added back to the rotation,[2] with one notable program remnant of the "Periodic Table of Musics", listing the names of musicians and composers as mythical element names in a format reminiscent of the periodic table.[33]
Personal life[edit]
Schickele married poet Susan Sindall on October 27, 1962.[34] His children, Matt and Karla, are both musicians. The two played together in the trio Beekeeper in the 1990s.[35] Karla is also an orchestral music composer.
Schickele's brother David Schickele (1937–1999) was a film director and musician.[36]
Peter Schickele died at his home in Bearsville, New York, on January 16, 2024, at the age of 88, due to a series of infections that damaged his health.[1]